


It's a Promise

by uchiuchi



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Reunions, Tokyo (City), i hate them, little bab makoto and haru
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-29
Updated: 2015-07-29
Packaged: 2018-04-11 22:06:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4454117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/uchiuchi/pseuds/uchiuchi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“So, Makoto.” Haruka clenches his little hands and looks up at his best friend with determined eyes, cheeks puffing out, face coloring red. “I want you to promise me that we’ll see each other again.”</p><p>In which Makoto moves away as a child and Haruka makes a promise.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's a Promise

“I’m moving away, Haru-chan.”

An eight year old Haruka stops swimming, lets his feet rest against the pool floor, and sticks his head out of the water. In front of him, Makoto’s sitting on the edge, kicking his feet and making small ripples on the surface.

He doesn’t ask questions. His parted lips and eyes, just a hair wider than normal, but enough for Makoto to understand, ask everything he needs.

Makoto hesitantly looks up from the hands that he’s been twisting together nervously. Seeing Haruka waiting for him, a shaky sigh comes out of his mouth. “My dad. He got a job offer in Tokyo and.... and he accepted it.”

Haruka tilts his head. “Tokyo?”  

He’s not exactly sure where that is, but he doesn’t like it. Whenever his dad had business trips to go on to this _Tokyo_ , he would be gone for quite a while.

Does that mean Makoto would be gone for a long time, too? Would he not be able to visit him?

“Forever?” is the one question of many that leaves Haruka’s mouth.

Makoto bites his bottom lip, and Haruka already knows he won’t like the answer.

“I think so, Haru-chan.”

“...Oh.” Haruka looks to the side, not sure what to say. He knows Makoto’s waiting for a reply, but what can he do? His tongue feels heavy enough as is.

Sensing Haruka’s uncertainty, Makoto opens his mouth again. “Um, but maybe we can… write to each other? I… Are you going to say anything, Haru-chan?”

He knows it’s not a nice thing to do. Right now, it’s probably the _meanest_ thing to do, but Haruka can’t stand there any longer. He quickly turns around and dives back underneath the water, ignoring Makoto’s confused yelps, letting the water surround him and giving into its embrace completely.

He hits the wall on the other side, then propels himself off of it.

_But it’s meaningless without Makoto, too._

 

\-----

 

That night, Haruka goes home and tells his grandmother the news.

One second, he’s on his knees in front of her, explaining the situation. The next, he’s pulled into her embrace as she strokes his hair and whispers reassurances into his ear.

Haruka’s not sure why.

“But, you know…” she eventually says, and Haruka raises his head from the crook of her arm to look at her. “There is something you can do.”

And that’s how Haruka ends up staying awake until the sun rises.

Makoto isn’t set to move away until a few weeks from now, but he still feels like he has to finish it as soon as he can.

 

\-----

 

“Hey, Haru-chan?”

The two boys are swinging at the local park.

Haruka doesn’t say anything to acknowledge Makoto. He just stops pushing his feet as high, stops pushing his arms against the chains, and Makoto knows just with those actions that he has his full attention.

“Are you going to miss me?”

Haruka glances at Makoto from the corner of his eye.

“I’m going to miss you, Haru-chan.”

He says that as if in reassurance, as if telling Haruka that he doesn’t need to be embarrassed because they’re both feeling the same thing. But Haruka still doesn’t answer, choosing to focus on a small pebble in front of him.

“The weather is really nice, isn’t it?” Makoto giggles, and Haruka finally turns his head and sees a wide grin stretching across the boy’s face. Makoto senses eyes on him and moves his gaze to Haruka, where his grin dwindles down into a smile half as big but twice as bright.

Haruka grunts softly and immediately shoves his legs against the ground to stop his swing. To his side, Makoto does the same, brows furrowed in confusion. “Ha--?”

“Let’s go get ice cream,” Haruka says. He sticks out his hand.

Makoto blinks.

“I’ll get you chocolate,” Haruka murmurs, voice barely audible, but Makoto chirps up and his eyes twinkle. He grabs Haruka’s hand and Haruka pulls him along to the man selling frozen sweets by the playground.

_I’m going to miss you too, Makoto._

 

\-----

 

Haruka stands in front of the Tachibana household and stares up at the door. He can see his breath ghost out in front of him because of the cold, and yeah, he should’ve worn a jacket, but that was the least of his concerns right now.

He raises a hand and knocks at the door.

It doesn’t take long for it to swing open. He looks up at Makoto’s mother, who seems surprised at first, but then she smiles. “Haruka! Did you want to see Makoto?”

Usually, that’s the case. But not now. Haruka shakes his head lightly and Makoto’s mother frowns. “Then what is it, dear?”

He takes a deep breath, and then bows his head, arms at his side. “Auntie, p-please let Makoto stay in Iwatobi. With me.”

No answer is heard, and Haruka’s about to stand up straight when he sees another pair of feet come to the door.

“What’s going on?” Haru recognizes it as the voice of Makoto’s father.

“Aaah, Haruka came and asked if we could let Makoto stay…”

Haruka holds his breath.

“Ah, is that so? Haruka, you don’t have to bow,” comes a light laugh, and Haruka mumbles a small apology as he stands again. Makoto’s father smiles sweetly, but then it drops a bit, and Haruka waits. “But… I’m afraid we can’t leave Makoto here. He’s our son.”

Haruka was expecting this, but he had figured it was worth a try anyway.

“Makoto’s my best friend,” he grumbles. “You can’t take him away.”

Makoto’s mother brings her hand up to her mouth and sighs, eyes watering. “Oh, Haruka…”

Haruka shakes his head. He doesn’t want anyone to start crying. Instead, he just shoves his hand into his pocket and takes out a small dolphin keychain, the same one Makoto had given him on their first day at the swim club. “Then, please give this to him.” He shuffles where he stands. “I want him to have it.”

A hand, he’s not sure which one, reaches out and grabs the keychain. Haruka clears his throat and puts his hands behind his back. “Thank you, auntie, uncle.”

“Of course,” they echo.

Then Haruka hears the approaching steps of someone else, someone lighter, and he looks up to see Makoto’s head peeking out from behind his parents. Haruka’s eyes widen, and before Makoto can say anything, he bows once more and turns around, running back to his home.

_I want you to remember me, Makoto._

 

\-----

 

“Mommy and daddy said I have to throw some things out,” Makoto sighs as he stares at his bed, overflowing with his stuff. “But I don’t know what to get rid of…”

Haruka, sitting cross-legged on the floor, gives a shrug. “How about the rock?”

Makoto shakes his head so hard his hair bounces around on his head. “I can’t do that! We found it together!”

“Then, the ring?”

“No way. You bought it for me from that machine at the mall…”

“The glove? The one with the hole in it.”

“But, we shared it when the heaters stopped working at our houses…”

Haruka purses his lips. “The fan.”

Haruka waits for the inevitable excuse, which Makoto gives not a second later. “Ah, the one that we use on each other when it’s really hot at the park…” Makoto gives a small, sad sigh, then turns and gives Haruka a smile equally as upsetting. “It’s no use. Everything reminds me of Haru-chan.”

Haruka stares at Makoto, eyes watering, before snapping out of it and turning around. He begins picking at the hem of his shirt.

“Then, I don’t know.”

_Because everything reminds me of Makoto, too._

 

\-----

 

“There’s a festival today, Haru-chan!”

“I know.”

“Let’s go watch it.” Makoto grabs his hand. “Like we do every year.”

“Sure,” Haruka says, letting himself be tugged along by the energetic boy. They make their way down the shrine stairs and to the little field right behind their houses, where fireworks are seen lighting up the sky.

“They’re beautiful, huh?” Makoto murmurs in awe, and Haruka turns to see his eyes as wide as they can be, lips parted in a small _‘o’_ as he cranes his head back and looks up. An especially large firework explodes, lighting up Makoto’s face, and Haruka can’t help but stare.

Then Haruka notices that Makoto might be struggling to see over the crowd in front of them.

“Makoto, can you see everything?”

“Hm? Well, I can see enough…”

Haruka doesn’t think that’s a good enough answer. He turns his head and looks around until he finds a small stone step, and then he pulls Makoto over to it. Makoto yelps in surprise until he’s let go of, and then Haruka’s pointing at the rock. “Get on it.”

“Eh? It’s not even that high, Haru-chan.”

Haruka doesn’t say anything.

Makoto lets out a defeated sigh and does what he’s told.

It’s time likes these where Haruka takes pride in the fact that he’s taller than Makoto, even if by only a little bit.

When Makoto steps on the stone, Haruka crouches and pulls Makoto’s legs over his shoulders.

“W-wait! Haru-chan!”

Haruka doesn’t listen, and once Makoto’s seated on his shoulders, he stands up. His knees wobble and his legs shake as he attempts to straighten himself out, and he feels Makoto grab at his hair in panic.

“A-are you okay?” Makoto asks once Haruka’s stopped shaking, and the boy nods in response. Then a firework blasts above them and Haruka hears a tiny, thrilled sigh. “Woah….”

Haruka smiles to himself.

“This is so cool, Haru-chan!” Makoto squeals in excitement.

Haruka shrugs, playing his giddiness off, and then he feels Makoto bend down, tilt his head, and place a big, exaggerated kiss on his forehead. “Thank you, Haru-chan!”

“Don’t thank me,” Haruka mumbles, glad that in this position, Makoto can’t see his face.”It’s weird.”

Makoto hums in disagreement but doesn’t say anything more, focus returning to the lights above them.

That night, when Haruka’s in his room, he looks out the window that faces Makoto’s. Soon after, the boy in question enters his room and looks out the same window, out at Haruka, and a large grin erupts across his face as he raises his hand and waves.

Haruka buries his face into the edge of his windowsill.

_I should be the one thanking you, Makoto._

 

\-----

 

“I’m glad my parents let us have one last sleepover, Haru-chan.”

“Yeah.”

“Especially since I leave tomorrow…”

Haruka takes a breath. “Yeah.”

Him and Makoto are currently laying down on the floor, a blow-up mattress underneath them and a blanket over them. Haruka turns his head and lets his eyes flit across the now empty room, all its contents either in the trash or packed away for Tokyo 

It doesn’t feel like Makoto’s room.

He doesn’t like it.

“Are you tired, Haru-chan?”

“Not really.”

“Then, do you want to play a game?”

“Not really,” Haruka repeats, turning onto his side and pulling the blanket further up his body. He isn’t in the mood to do anything right now, not when he knows it’ll be the last.

“Mm.” Haruka feels Makoto shift beside him. “Then, let’s talk a little.”

“About what?”

Makoto giggles. “About anything.”

Haruka hesitates, but soon he’s turning around and facing Makoto, whose eyes are still bright green even in the darkness of his room. He waits.

Makoto hums. “What do you think Tokyo will be like?”

“I don’t know.”

“I hear it’s loud…”

“Annoying.”

“And there are a lot of buildings.”

“It doesn’t have an ocean near it, so it’s probably not that great.”

Makoto laughs at that, and Haruka pushes his face further into his pillow so Makoto doesn’t see the blush that creeps onto his cheeks. “That’s something you would say.”

And then, softly, he adds on, “It doesn’t have Haru-chan, either.”

Haruka doesn’t like the way Makoto’s voice dropped, or the way it lost its happiness. He also doesn’t like the way Makoto’s words make him feel, a pain so deep in his chest that he has no idea how to get it out.

Quickly, without thinking, Haruka blurts out, “I wish Makoto could stay.”

Quietly, as if on instinct, Makoto replies back, “I know, Haru-chan. Me too.”

Haruka swallows, turns around, and closes his eyes. He doesn’t feel like talking anymore.

_I wish I could go, Makoto._

 

\-----

 

It’s finally the day.

The day Makoto leaves.

The day Haruka’s been dreading.

When he wakes up in Makoto’s house, he goes home. Normally he would wait for the other to get up too, but he has something he needs to do, and there’s not a lot of time left to do it.

Haruka paces around his room with an object in his hands, trying to think of what to say, what to do, but his thoughts are cut off when he hears a van pull up to Makoto’s house, and his heart jumps in his throat as he races down the stairs and outside.

Makoto’s parents are packing away the last of his things, and Haruka’s parents are helping. Haruka doesn’t pay much attention to them, and instead pushes his way inside the house.

He’s instantly met with a pair of green, and he stops in his tracks.

“Haru-chan?”

“Makoto.” Haruka holds out his hands and opens up his palms, revealing a small bracelet made from blue and green string. It wasn’t the prettiest thing out there, nor was it the neatest, but it was something he wanted to give Makoto. “This is for you.”

Makoto tilts his head and looks at him in confusion.

“My grandmother,” Haruka begins, grabbing Makoto’s wrist. Makoto’s breath hitches and he shifts his gaze from Haruka’s eyes to look at their joined hands. “She told me that when you want someone to keep a promise, you make them this.” He wraps the string around Makoto’s wrist and ties a little knot to keep it secure. It droops low on his arm, much too big. “She said that it works because whenever they see it, they’ll remember.”

“Haru-chan…”

“So, Makoto.” Haruka clenches his little hands and looks up at his best friend with determined eyes, cheeks puffing out, face coloring red. “I want you to promise me that we’ll see each other again.”

Makoto’s hands start shaking but that doesn’t stop him from taking both of Haruka’s into his own, gripping them with every ounce of strength he has left. “Haru-chan....” he says again, high-pitched whines lacing themselves between his gasping breaths.

Makoto looks ready to cry harder than he’s ever cried.

Sensing this, Haruka turns away.

“I’ll never forget you, Haru-chan!” Makoto declares confidently, and Haruka feels tears drop onto his hand. “I promise we’ll see each other again!”

Haruka allows himself a small peek at the crying boy’s face and instantly wishes he hadn’t. His cheeks are glistening with tears, his nose is running a little, but despite all of that, Makoto tries to smile his biggest smile ever. His biggest, brightest one, all for Haruka, so that the last image in Haruka’s mind of him isn’t one of sadness.

At that, Haruka’s chest feels heavy, and something in him snaps. He lets go of Makoto’s hands and wraps them around his body instead, enveloping the boy in a hug. It’s the first one Haruka’s ever initiated, and at the feel of Makoto’s arms wrapping around him too, choked sobs growing louder, Haruka allows a tear of his own to fall onto Makoto’s shoulder. 

_Then, it’s a promise._

 

**[10 years later]**

 

“I can’t believe you’re leaving us, Haru-chan!”

“Nagisa-kun, he’s not—”

“After all the fun we had!”

“He’s not trying to get away from us, he’s—”

“I’m so upset!”

“Nagisa.” Rin clamps his hand down over the blond's head and ruffles up his hair, a toothy grin on his face. Rei stands in the background, massaging his temples. “How can you be upset when I’m still here?”

Nagisa considers his words, then throws himself at Haruka. “Please, Haru-chan!”

“Oi!”

“Nagisa,” Haruka sighs, a soft smile on his lips. “I’ll come visit. It’s only college.”

“ _Only_ college?” Rei stutters. “Haruka-senpai, it’s the best culinary school in the country! This is not _only_ anything!”

“Rei’s right,” Rin says. “We get that you’re not showy, but you can’t downplay how big this is, Haru.”

“My Haru-chan’s all grown up,” Nagisa sniffs, and Haruka doesn’t have the heart to remind him that he’s older. “I guess it can’t be helped…”

“What can’t be helped is that Haruka-senpai’s plane leaves in ten minutes. He has to board now or he’ll miss his flight,” Rei reminds them, pushing up his glasses. Clearing his throat, he walks over to Haruka and sticks out his hand. “We’ll miss you, Haruka-senpai.” 

Haruka stares at his hand then up at Rei, a brow raised, and Rei can’t help the tumbling his lips does. He quickly drops his hands and choose to instead throw himself at Haruka just as Nagisa had done moments ago.

Haruka laughs quietly and hugs Rei back.

And after bidding a farewell to his friends, he get on his plane.

_Tokyo, here I come._

 

\-----

 

Tokyo’s too loud.

Tokyo’s too populated.

Tokyo’s too… _Tokyo._

Haruka’s not sure he likes it.

But, he’s already here, and he’s going to stay here, because as much as he misses Iwatobi, this opportunity was not one he could easily pass up on.

Haruka finally packs away the last of his things, a whole week after arriving. He considers going to sleep (even though it’s only noon) but knows that would be irresponsible of him. Classes start in a week. What he needs to be doing now is exploring the city and finding out where everything is.

So, with that, Haruka pulls on his shoes and steps outside.

The air’s not as humid in Tokyo. Haruka finds it easier to breathe but the air isn’t _nicer_ to breathe. He misses the smell of salt that awaited him every time he left his house and every time he came back.

Haruka also notices that the people aren’t as friendly. _Well, maybe friendly isn’t the right word,_ Haruka thinks. It’s more that they weren’t as sociable, or as talkative. Everyone seemed to blur around him as they headed from destination to destination. No one stopped to talk to him and no one stopped on the sides of streets to talk to friends, unlike in Iwatobi, where it was rare to go places without having a small chat on the way.

He figures this is easier, and might be less troublesome, anyway.

Haruka also notices that it’s rare to have his own space when he's outside. His arm is constantly brushing up against someone else’s, and the trains are another story completely. He’s ridden them once and he never wants to again.

Unfortunately, to get to his university, he has to.

Haruka notices a lot of things in Tokyo.

What he doesn’t notice, however, is the large figure that comes barreling around the corner at an inhuman speed. It smacks into him and Haruka barely has time to think before he’s dropping to the ground, the other falling along with him.

“Oh my god,” is the small squeak that clues Haruka in on what just happened. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry! I was in a rush and I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going, and, aah, I’m so sorry!”

Haruka holds up a hand in his daze, stopping the man in his tracks. As nice as his voice is — and it was _really_ nice, really _warm_ , Haruka thinks - he hates when people fret over him. “It’s okay. I’m fine.”

Then he finally gains his sense of direction again and opens his eyes, only to find himself staring into the most stunning shade of green he’s ever seen.

His breath catches in his throat.

“Are you sure?” the man asks again, breathless, probably from all the running he was doing.

Haruka nods wordlessly, still in awe, and then a sharp pang comes from the side of his head and he shoots his hand up to rub at it.

The stranger in front of him panics. “What if you hit your head on the ground? Ah, I should've never been running…” he continues, and then he raises his own arm towards Haruka, feeling around his head for any injuries.

It’s then that Haruka sees a small blue and green string dangle in front of him, hanging from the other’s wrist. He tilts his head in wonder, and then memories of a smaller Haru working for hours on a tiny bracelet come to mind.

His mouth goes dry.

The stranger is still talking, probably apologizing repeatedly, but Haruka can’t hear a word. Instead he focuses on the man’s face, on his brunet locks, on his jawline, on his shoulders, on his _nose_ , even…

Then he focuses on his lips, which turn up into a familiar smile, probably because the stranger in front of him found out there were no major injuries after all.

Haruka doesn’t even think. His voice, cracked and confused, comes out. “...Mako-to…?”

The eyes of the man in front of him grow large, recognizing the name instantly. Haruka’s heart pounds wildly in his chest.

Despite it being ten years, despite things probably being different between the both of them now, despite them being adults, and despite the familiarity of the nickname that should not, absolutely _not_ , be shown in this situation, the man in front of him — no, _Makoto_ — opens his mouth with a shaky breath.

“...Haru-chan?”

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> This is gonna be a 3 (or so) chapter fic! I hope you all enjoyed. ^^


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